Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 73
88. Since, then, without a perception of what
correspondence is there can be no clear knowledge of the
spiritual world or of its inflow into the natural world, neither
of what the spiritual is in its relation to the natural, nor any
clear knowledge of the spirit of man, which is called the soul,
and its operation into the body, neither of man’s state after
death, it is necessary to explain what correspondence is and the
nature of it. This will prepare the way for what is to follow.
89. First, what correspondence is. The whole natural world
corresponds to the spiritual world, and not merely the natural
world in general, but also every particular of it; and as a
consequence everything in the natural world that springs from
the spiritual world is called a correspondent. It must be
understood that the natural world springs from and has
permanent existence from the spiritual world, precisely like an
effect from its effecting cause. All that is spread out under the
sun and that receives heat and light from the sun is what is
called the natural world; and all things that derive their
subsistence therefrom belong to that world. But the spiritual
world is heaven; and all things in the heavens belong to that
world.
90. Since man is both a heaven and a world in least form
after the image of the greatest (see above, n. 57), there is in him
both a spiritual and a natural world. The interior things that
belong to his mind, and that have relation to understanding
and will, constitute his spiritual world; while the exterior things
that belong to his body, and that have relation to its senses and
activities, constitute his natural world. Consequently,
everything in his natural world (that is, in his body and its
senses and activities), that has its existence from his spiritual
The knowledge of correspondences was the chief knowledge of the
ancient people; but at the present day it is wholly forgotten (n. 3021, 3419,
4280, 4749, 4844, 4964, 4966, 6004, 7729, 10252).
The knowledge of correspondences flourished among the Eastern
nations and in Egypt (n. 5702, 6692, 7097, 7779, 9391, 10407).